Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan visited Adigathur village in Tiruvallur district and participated in a gram sabha meeting on Tuesday.
Mr. Haasan said his party would try to fulfil as many needs of the villagers as possible. However, he was not doing this for votes. “We did not come here to do something and ask for votes [in return]. We will do it nevertheless. It is your [the people’s] responsibility to talk about our work in other villages,” he said.
Elaborating on the work his party was planning to do, Mr. Haasan said, “We will build three classrooms and 100 toilets. We will also improve the green cover by planting more trees. We will also ensure that waterbodies are restored. We are planning to organise workshops on skill development.”
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Mr. Haasan said his party had drawn up a wish list of 50 demands after interacting with the villagers. “We will try to do what we can. People say that we cannot do what a government is capable of doing. We will show [them] that we can do it. This is why we did not adopt 12,500 villages across Tamil Nadu but only 8,” he said.
The demands that the party was unable to meet would be addressed later, he said. “We will come and discuss with you how we can succeed in doing the things that we were unable to achieve [before],” Mr. Haasan said.
The people of Adigathur should not think that somebody will come and do everything for them, he said, adding, “We should do it [ourselves], we should protect it, we should study in schools, we should keep the lakes and toilets clean. It is our responsibility.”
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The party would work to protect the livelihood of Irulars and Nari Kuravars living in the village.